ISLAMABAD, Nov 29: Two children were killed and three injured while trying to pick up the food packages air dropped by the United States as they stepped on a landmine in Herat, UN officials said.

Speaking at a news conference here on Thursday, United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) to Afghanistan spokesperson Stephanie Bunker said that children running into a minefield in the Herat area tried to pick up the air dropped food packages. Two of the children were killed while three sustained injuries, she said.

The spokesperson said that UN Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan (UNMAPA) had destroyed an unexploded 500-pound bomb that had landed in the house of an Afghan family in Kabul.

About cluster bombs littered across Afghanistan, Ms Bunker said that in Herat the UN Mine Action local staff had completed destroying cluster bombs in 54 homes in Qala Shater, the village first hit by cluster bombs when the United States started using them. She said the UN staff had also cleared cluster bombs from two gardens and a mosque.

The spokesperson said the UN demining team was continuing to work on dealing with unexploded ordnance in Kabul. She said the team had destroyed an unexploded 500-pound bomb on the Kabul Maidan Shah Road at a place called Khampani. The road was important for access into Baimyan.